Latest news with #Hourston
BBC News
06-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Three generations of family in Papa Westray football team
Grandad, sons and grandson in island football team 11 minutes ago Share Save David Delday BBC Scotland News Share Save BBC Three generations of the Hourston family played in Papa Westray's first cup tie Three generations of one family have helped an Orkney island with a population of less than 90 take part in its first competitive football match. Grandad Alistair Hourston, 63, and his sons Barry, Shane and Daniel all played the entire game for the Papa Westray team alongside Barry's son, 19-year-old Aidan. Nearly every man living on the island between the ages of 19 and 63 was recruited for the match in Orkney's Parish Cup competition on Sunday. The team - nicknamed the Doondies - was cheered on by more than half of Papa Westray's entire population - but lost 6-0 to island neighbours Sanday. The Papa Westray football team is made up of almost all the men of working age on the island The idea for the team came about after the island previously entered a five-a-side competition and realised there were more potential players. However, the Papa Westray squad has to overcome a number of difficulties for any 11-a-side clashes. The island has no football pitch so the team will have to travel by ferry to a different island - nearby Westray - in order to play a "home" match. Meanwhile, training has been taking place indoors - or on a small five-a-side pitch near the island's only school. For its first match, a special sailing was put on to take the team and supporters to the game and back. The second leg of the tie will be played later in May where the team hopes to score its first goal. The game was played on the island of Sanday Centre-half and team manager Alistair said that despite the defeat it was a special occasion for his family - which made up nearly half the team - and the island. "It meant a lot I must admit," he said. "Going out to the pitch - a great sense of pride because it is a small island, there is only about 80 folk here. "We lost quite heavily but actually the game was surprisingly good and having three sons and a grandson - it was one of those days you will never forget." Alison Hourston and children Alma and Archie came to cheer on husband and dad Shane. Grandson Aidan said that they had worked well together. "I got a bit of abuse from my grandad - but it was good playing with them," he joked. "Obviously dad has played with me out in the garden a good bit and in a five-a-side team so it's no different with an 11-a-side team, apart from a few extra folk." Alison Hourston was at the match to support her husband Shane - and the rest of the family - along with children Alma and Archie. She said: "I am getting very emotional about it all. "I have been jumping up and down I have been very vocal - I think they are doing good. "I am really proud of them, I am proud of them all." 'Discussed tactics'
New York Times
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Why Are Women Drawn to These ‘Unflattering' Pants?
They billow like paper lanterns. They can reach the ankles, or cinch into two large puffballs around the upper thighs. They may not be sexy to anyone but the person who's wearing them — and that's sort of the point. 'It's a bit of a rebellious thing,' said Charlie Hourston, the founder of the Los Angeles-based label Charlie Beads, which has sold more than 2,000 of these pants, known as bloomers, in the last 18 months. Ms. Hourston's designs ($68) are made of fabrics like French terry, pinstripe cotton and gingham and are of the shorter, Lolita-esque variety. Other riffs on the hot-pant-like shape include a terry-cloth bloomer by Suzie Kondi and a cut in velvet by Colleen Allen, two New York City labels. Customers often note that their romantic partners probably won't understand the look or may even find it unappealing, Ms. Hourston, 25, said. She considers that to be one of the design's selling points: 'Even if they're not flattering, they're empowering.' Divisive though they may be, bloomers have reached a new saturation point this season, hitting racks at mall chain stores, rippling down high-fashion runways and cropping up on the social media feeds of independent clothing labels like Lauren Manoogian and Chelsea Mak. They can range in price from $30, as is the case with a butter-yellow pair from Urban Outfitters, to more than $6,000 — the price tag on Alaïa's most expensive take on the silhouette. Much like the wearers of winter's oversize sweaters, many of the women drawn to these pants say they are in search of a post-male gaze femininity. Some are looking to telegraph a certain intellectual outlook on fashion. 'They have more personality than something that is minimal or pretty,' said Gaia Repossi, the creative director of the fine jewelry label Repossi. In January, Ms. Repossi, 39, wore a pair of Alaïa's voluminous trousers ($6,400) to a dinner hosted by the brand. On a recent scroll through social media, Sandeep Salter, 37, was surprised to see a fast-fashion version of bloomers flash across her screen. The style was familiar to Ms. Salter, an owner of Salter House, a Brooklyn boutique that sells housewares and clothes that have come to define a certain urban Bo Peep aesthetic. Since 2021, her store has turned out poufy bloomer pants that nip at the ankles as part of its in-house fashion label. That design has become popular with workers at Stissing House, a Hudson Valley restaurant with a similar cottage-chic sensibility. Kaitlin Pearce, the restaurant's director of feasts, wears hers multiple times a week for dinner service and said they can evoke an unexpected mix of emotions — making her feel both like an American Girl doll and an arbiter of social defiance. 'I am a lesbian woman who likes tomboy clothes, but at work I like to wear frilly clothes,' she said. For Ms. Pearce, 35, the pants have added appeal because of their feminist history. While the shape is derived from Ottoman-era şalvar pants, which in the mid-19th century became fashionable among European women, in the United States the garment is most closely associated with the suffragist Amelia Bloomer, said Matthew Yokobosky, the senior curator of fashion and material culture at the Brooklyn Museum. Inspired by Ms. Bloomer, women began wearing the pants underneath short skirts during the suffrage movement as a means to escape the long crinolines that were a norm. 'They were looking for more equality and somehow started associating freedom of clothing with freedom of choice,' Mr. Yokobosky said. He acknowledged the style as among the first feminist designs. The most dramatic of today's bloomers closely resemble those worn by Ms. Bloomer herself. Often referred to as balloon pants, the giant bottoms plume with excessive quantities of fabric to create an exaggerated silhouette that was last popular in the 1980s. The Alaïa designer Pieter Mulier is responsible for the most extreme balloon pants, presented as part of the brand's spring 2025 runway show. Many of them were paired with cropped tube tops and minimal makeup — putting the spotlight almost solely on Mr. Mulier's giant pant designs. At Nordstrom, taffeta versions of the French label's balloon pants, priced at $2,150, are quickly selling out. Rickie De Sole, the store's vice president, fashion director, said customers were drawn to their novelty, which 'gets you talking.' The shape can also be purchased at more approachable price points from brands like Free People and Anthropologie, which share a parent company. At the former, sales of the brand's antique-y Forever Young bloomer pants have 'exploded,' according to Ana Hartl, the company's chief creative officer. First introduced last year, the design is now available in some half-dozen colors. Chelsea Mak, whose namesake brand is based in Los Angeles, calls her take on the style 'rain joggers.' Ms. Mak says she finds the pants appealing because they are visually akin to ankle-grazing skirts but offer more comfort and ease of movement. 'In my own twisted, modern way I wanted to look feminine like wearing a big skirt but needed the mobility of a pant,' said Ms. Mak, 40. 'It's bohemian and feminine without stepping into a big prairie skirt.' The ethics behind our shopping reporting. When Times reporters write about products, they never accept merchandise, money or favors from the brands. We do not earn a commission on purchases made from this article.
